The term “tribalism” has become ubiquitous in discussions of modern-day political conflicts. It’s a useful metaphor because it’s grounded in historical fact. For most of our species’ history, humans lived in tribes, and there’s evidence that these groups sometimes battled for scarce resources.
This ongoing struggle shaped our primitive brains, implanting impulses that still guide us today when we talk about issues ranging from immigration to abortion. At least, that’s the argument evolutionary psychologist Hector Garcia makes in his new book, Sex, Power, and Partisanship: How Evolutionary Science Makes Sense of Our Political Divide. …
He spoke with Pacific Standard to discuss how our deeper impulses guide our political beliefs, and why understanding them is crucial to emerging from this era of extreme polarization. CONT.
Tom Jacobs, Pacific Standard